The Last of Us: I Got You Babe
by Dreams of Florence
Summary: A broken walkman leads to a day of fun and good old fashioned father/daughter bonding for Joel and Ellie.


The Last of Us: I Got You Babe

Joel and Ellie returned to Jackson County and as promised, they had a home waiting for them. It was newly restored, just needing a few touch ups here and there.

But at this point, anything would have been acceptable.

They settled in quickly, some of the missed luxuries coming back to them, such as a hot shower and electricity. The dams were much more stable so rolling blackouts would become less frequent.

Ellie was in her room, sifting through her bag. She organized her comics and joke books on the nightstand next to her bed and placed Riley's pendant on the side.

"Miss you." Ellie whispered.

She put her switchblade under her pillow and her pistol under the bed (you never know sometimes).

She taped the note from her mother above her bed.

The last remaining object in her bag was her walkman. Her broken walkman. She considered throwing this out numerous times but she just couldn't bring herself to do so.

Sentiment.

She fiddled it with it, trying to fix it. But she just didn't know how.

"Maybe Joel knows…" She got up and went downstairs where Joel was sitting on the couch, reading, surprisingly enough, one of Ellie's comics. He couldn't deny that she was right, they were a good read.

"Told you they were a good read." Ellie startled Joel out of his trance.

"What can I say? They're actually not bad." Joel responded. "You settling in alright?"

"Yeah. I was actually wondering if you could take a look at something for me?"

Joel marked his place in the comic and set it aside, giving Ellie all of his attention. "What's up kiddo?"

"My walkman broke a while back and I can't figure out how to fix it. I was hoping you could figure something out."

"Well I never was that tech-savvy, but I reckon I'll give a shot. Give it here."

Ellie handed the walkman to Joel and he studied it. She sat next to him.

In the background, Joel had some music playing from the mini stereo system, courtesy of Tommy. When he went back to Texas, he grabbed some of Joel's favorite tapes. He gave them all to Joel along with the stereo system as a welcome gift.

"What are you listening to?"

"Johnny Cash."

"_Ain't no grave can hold my body down…"_

"Not bad." Ellie, tapping her hands to the beat of the song. "Speaks a lot of truth."

"Really describes our journey don't it?" Joel looked at her.

"Yeah."

The two fell into a comfortable silence.

"What exactly is the problem you had with this?" Joel asked, just about stumped.

"Headphones don't work. One side is gone and the other side goes in and out."

"Hmm, it could be that your headphones are just dud." Joel mused. "There's a spot in that system there for stuff like this. Let me check it out."

Ellie nodded, only half aware of what Joel said. She was completely emerged in the lyrics of the song, piecing them to what they've been through.

Joel stood up and went over to the stereo system and plugged the walkman in.

"How do I do this now…ah there we go."

Ellie was having flashes of her encounter with David when the music suddenly stopped. She turned to her side and was about to ask if the power went out again but saw that Joel was no longer sitting next to her. She turned around and saw Joel standing by the stereo system, walkman in hand, about to press play.

She remembered what tape she had in there.

"W-wait!"

Too late.

Joel pressed play and Etta James' "I Got You Babe" came blasting out of the stereo.

Joel took a step back. That was a surprise.

"Well I wasn't expecting this outta you." Joel said in shock. He didn't expect for Ellie to listen to this type of music. With the exception of the occasional country, Joel expected Ellie to be more into rock n' rock than anything else.

"It was a gift." Ellie wished she could disappear into the couch. Joel caught her discomfort.

"Hey I'm not complaining. This was a classic back in the day, still is."

"Think you can sing this?" Ellie joked, her eyes glowing.

"No way in hell." Joel responded.

"Oh come on, please." Ellie gave him her best puppy eyes and batted her eyelashes for effect.

"Not happening. Besides, I don't have the voice for this." Joel responded.

Ellie pouted but relented. When she thought about it, Joel didn't seem like the type of person to have such a big and soulful voice like Etta James.

Now there's a thought.

"You still owe me one."

"One what?"

"One song. You agreed that you'd sing for me if I got you out of UEC alive."

Joel cocked a brow. "I never agreed to that."

"How would you know, you were bleeding out." Ellie responded.

Joel shook his head and walked back over to her. He contemplated going back to his comic, having left off at a good part, but thought he could surprise Ellie once more.

"How about this?" Joel held out his hand.

"What?" Ellie asked, confused.

"Exactly what you think it is." Joel responded with a smile.

"You sing _and_ you dance?" Ellie asked incredulously.

"Well when you grow up in Texas, especially in my family, it's either you're good at one or the other or rarely, neither. I just happen to be good at both."

"Overachiever." Ellie said.

Joel smiled. "Come on kiddo."

Ellie reluctantly grabbed his hand and he pulled her to her feet.

They started shy, small and slow, the way a father and daughter would share their first dance. Both of them soon became confident and began adding more moves. Adding twirls, dips, silly and solo freestyles (much to the delight of Ellie), and waltzing.

Joel picked up Ellie and began twirling her around, causing Ellie to laugh out loud.

Despite saying otherwise, Joel wound up mouthing some lyrics of the song.

"I thought you said you didn't have the voice for this." Ellie smirked.

"I'll drop you." Joel said jokingly.

The two of them continued to dance and twirl all throughout the day, the song struck on repeat. But they didn't mind. The both of them were laughing and Joel sang some parts of the lyrics, soon singing the whole song at certain times, even putting his own twist on certain parts of the lyrics, and impressively still staying in rhythm.

They slowed back down into a slow dance, hugging each other tightly with matching smiles, eyes closed.

Joel's mind flickered to when he used to do this with Sarah when she was younger (but with an entirely different song).

Ellie's mind flickered to when she was dancing to this song with Riley.

Both of them lost in their thoughts whispered two different things.

"Don't go." Ellie whispered.

"_I got you, babe." _

"I got you, baby girl."

* * *

My Joel and Ellie feels have attacked and they are strong tonight! XD. They are just so dklfkspglf *mental breakdown*

Despite the song being a love song, this is _**not**_ Joel x Ellie XD

Songs used: Ain't No Grave by Johnny Cash & I Got You Babe by Etta James

Thanks for reading & please leave a review =)


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